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The Editor's Desk

published Thursday, October 13, 2011

MAPPING HYPOCRISY?: Because I too often have too much time on my hands, I spent part of Thursday morning comparing and contrasting a couple of maps. One was the 2008 presidential election map detailing which states supported Republican John McCain and which supported Democrat Barack Obama. The other was the “State of Credit” map recently released by the credit reporting agency Experian detailing the cities where people maintain the best, and the worst, average credit scores.

Before I go any further, let me forestall at least some of the criticism that’s sure to come from those who’ll point out that my simplistic methodology probably wouldn’t withstand critical evaluation. I know that, but still I think it’s interesting to note that among the states hosting cities with the lowest average credit scores — Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Nevada — only one (Nevada) fell into the Democratic column in 2008 presidential balloting. Conversely, among the states hosting cities with the highest credit scores — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Massachusetts, Illinois and South Dakota — only one (South Dakota) was in the Republican column three years ago.

Speaking broadly then, people in conservative-leaning states (as defined by 2008 presidential balloting) don’t appear to be necessarily all that fiscally responsible on a personal basis, although they certainly demand that of their government, while people in liberal-leaning states do appear to be fiscally responsible on a personal level, although they might not impose that same restraint on their government.

Interestingly, California was something of an outlier in the Experian survey, with San Francisco having one of the nation’s best average individual credit scores while Bakersfield posted one of the worst average credit scores. California went Democratic in 2008 presidential voting.

... AND PLEASE DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER: On those occasions when I’ve argued with advocates of the concealed carrying of handguns, I’m routinely told that gun owners are among the more responsible adults in the population. As anecdotal counterargument, I give you Tennessee state Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville.

As reported in the Commercial Appeal in Memphis on Wednesday, “Todd, 63, who worked for years to win approval last year of a law change to allow handgun-carry-permit holders to carry guns into places serving alcohol, was pulled over just before 11 p.m. Tuesday. Nashville police reportedly saw his car weaving, so he was given a field sobriety test and arrested on charges of driving under the influence, possession of a handgun while under the influence and refusing to take a breath alcohol test.” The newspaper goes on to note that police “found a loaded .38-caliber pistol in a holster between the driver’s seat and the center console of Todd’s vehicle.”

Also according to the Commercial Appeal, Todd chairs a House Republican Caucus Firearms Issues Task Force appointed by Majority Leader Gerald McCormick in July “to study and develop recommendations for gun-related bills that the caucus will push in the 2012 legislative session.” McCormick told the Associated Press following Todd’s arrest that he (McCormick) was postponing the panel’s first meeting, scheduled for later this month, and might disband the group altogether.

Also according to that AP report, “Todd and other supporters of the bill (allowing guns in places where alcohol is served) stressed that it would remain a crime to drink alcohol while carrying a gun in public.” Oh. OK, then.

ONE WEDDING AND NO COLUMN: Regular local Sunday columnist Myra Blackmon won’t have a column in Sunday’s paper, due to a wedding slated for her garden on that day, for which she is busily preparing. I’ll let her tell you about it:

“When we lived in Prague in 2008, we became close to Amanda Volbert, a delightful Minnesotan who was there on a Fulbright teaching exchange. Fast forward two years: Amanda came to UGA for her MPA. By then, her boyfriend, Jeff Pretti, a Missourian, had progressed to finance. Jeff is teaching at Georgia Perimeter College and at Morehouse University. We are thrilled with the union and they’re getting married in our garden on Sunday. While the event will be small in scale, it will be very large on fun and joy! I hope my readers will join in wishing Amanda and Jeff a long and happy life; and I hope they will understand that my brain is too full of happy wedding stuff to come up with something for people to argue about on Sunday.”